The Master’s University baseball freshman Ryan Shalkevich set out a goal to throw in about 10 innings in his first year of collegiate baseball. The former West Ranch pitcher earned his spot in the bullpen nearly as quickly as he reached the goal, as Shalkevich was named the Golden State Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. Shalkevich finished the year with a 3.
41 ERA, 37 strikeouts, and 31 hits allowed in 34.1 innings on the hill. The reliever has a consistent approach of just aiming to throw strikes and living with the results.
“If I execute and throw strikes I should be successful enough if I throw the right pitch, if I get in the right spot,” Shalkevich said. “Then if they hit it, they hit it. I’m just standing out there hoping it goes all right.
” The race for the Freshman of the Year award was tight at the end of the season. With Shalkevich showing his consistency as a reliever and in the pack for the race, the stars aligned and he was given the chance to start in TMU’s second to last game of the season. Shalkevich was excited for the start, something very foreign to the lifelong reliever.
“I honestly have probably started one game in my life, and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Shalkevich said. “I just took my warm-up a little bit slower than usual, and made sure to stay hydrated during the game, and I was just rolling with it.” The freshman had some issues in the first inning but locked in after that and finished his first collegiate.